Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Hello Travelers!

The end of August is quickly approaching, schools are getting back in session, the evenings are cooler, and Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival begins!August 31-November 13 Epcot will be hosting this years Food and Wine Festival, a foodie’s dream, all around World Showcase.Each fall, Epcot offers individual “Marketplaces”, each offering small portions of special creations, brews and vintages from different countries, themes or companies.In 2017 Epcot features 35 marketplaces!

Food and Wine Festival is included in the cost of Epcot park admission, but the samples do require separate purchase.If you are at Epcot during this time and are on the pre-paid dining plan that Disney offers, the food samples and non-alcoholic drinks would count as a snack credit, and will be marked with the DDP symbol.Alcohol will only be served to guests 21 years of age and older, with photo id.And for those with food allergies, the menus will be clearly marked “GF” (gluten free), as they are throughout the parks.For other allergy concerns, please ask a cast member, they would be glad to help explain what is safe for you or your family at that location, or get the chef for you.Now that we have all the business covered, lets get to the fun!

Why visit Disney World during these months? As I said, it is every foodie’s dream! Epcot will be full of famous chefs and culinary greats throughout the Festival, featuring well-known chefs Art Smith, Buddy Valastro, Cat Cora, Robert Ervine, and many others!And of course, the ABC daytime talk show, The Chew, will be recording their show live in Epcot, trying some of the fabulous food and sharing some tips with us, October 4th-6th (airing on ABC 10/9/17-10/13/17). Separate tickets are required for audience members (but who wouldn’t want to run into Mario Batali and his Crocs walking around Epcot?).

Another reason Food and Wine time is so great is the Eat to the Beat Concert Series.Each night of the Festival, Disney will showcase amazing performers in concert, at Epcot’s America Gardens Theater, three times per evening. These are free concerts, but Disney does offer preferred seating with their Eat to the Beat Dining Package, where you can dine at one of Epcot’s wonderful sit-down restaurants and get guaranteed seating for the show. If you are using the Dining plan this Package uses 2 table-service credits.Eat to the Beat performers include Fuel, Plain White T’s, Air Supply, 38 Special, Kenny G, American Authors, Blue October, Boyz II Men and many, many others!The Eat to the Beat Dining Packages are available now!If you want a full schedule of restaurants and performers with dates please let me know!

And of course, most guests love to go to the Festival just to sample some of the yummiest dishes ever, and with the portions being smaller you can eat your way around World Showcase and try several offerings! With 6 new Marketplace Booths, there is definitely something to accommodate any guest!Each country of World Showcase has their own booth, with samples of foods they don’t offer the rest of the year, and booths from other counties sprout up as well!Australia, Belgium, Patagonia, Brazil, Greece, New Zealand and even Hawai’i represent their homelands with amazing choices! As well as booths dedicated to just Craft Beer, Farm Fresh options and dishes made with Almond Breeze almond milk!Whether you are craving some Crispy Chicken and griddled cornbread from the Farm Fresh booth, Lamington from Australia, a Schoferhofer Hefeweizen Pomegranate Beer from the Brewer’s Collection, Cheddar Cheese and Stout Dip with Irish Brown Bread from Ireland, or Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Mousse with Caramel Drizzle from Earth Eats there will be something you have to try!

Would you be interested in getting a free quote for a visit to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival? I would love to help you plan a trip to Disney World!Remember, there is never a bad time to See the Mouse!